The First Thanksgiving in Buffalo!

I finally made it out to Buffalo, NY to spend Thanksgiving with my grandparents there.  29 Thanksgivings have passed and I'd never spent my favorite holiday with these relatives, so it was about time that #30 made this possible.

Lunch with the Aunties (Gramma, Aunt Karen, Aunt Sandy, Aunt Cheryl) at the Roycroft, a lovely historic home in East Aurora

Canadian Butterfly Garden- beautiful and fascinating.  Here, above and below, are hundreds of chrysalises.  

The butterflies wouldn't leave Grampa alone!  They were climbing all over him!

Butterflies of all colors, shapes and sizes

I love the outside of this one's wings

Grampa, Gramma & Katie

My personal favorite, I love the green

Blurry but nice

G&G in the butterfly garden

Of course we had to run up to Niagra Falls for lunch.  I love this place, it never gets old for me.  The drive up is really pretty and relaxing.  If you didn't know the nearly glasslike river would turn into this formidable falls within a matter of miles you'd never guess it.  I'll be this came as quite a shock to early explorers.  Millions of gallons of water thundering over this cliff every second, the sheer force of nature is really impressive.  You can't go here and not get wet, so bring a poncho.  Above is the Canadian side of the Falls, Horseshoe Falls.

The American side of the Falls, American Falls.  Ha.

And, me. 

and me & Gramma

30th Birthday Weekends

My actual 30th Birthday day was perhaps the best birthday I've had.  Calls from family and friends, a fun day of celebrating (working out, field trip, 5-course dinner made by my best friends) and good food and company made me feel very special.

Normally my perfect Saturday consists of getting up and going to Yoga and Zumba.  It's a great workout combination and starts the weekend off right.  My normal routine continues with listening to NPR all afternoon, but I had other things to do today.  A group of friends decided to take me on a field trip to many places I'd never been in Corvallis.  We started off at Two Towns Ciderhouse just east of downtown on HWY 34, where we had cider sampling.  Hard cider is the way to go; why would anyone drink beer when you can drink cider?  From there we headed to Emmon's meat market where we saw all kinds of products I didn't know existed, had some more samples and confirmed that it's good to buy meat locally.  Next we went back into town to the local rock shop that must be a front for a drug dealer (I seriously don't know how they pay the rent otherwise) and learned that the Sunstone is the OR state gem.  We went on another couple adventures I won't describe here, but I will say it was a fun afternoon with friends that challenge me to push my limits.  

That night my great friends Ryan, Rachael, Dana, Kevin, Karrie and David prepared an amazing French-style 5-course meal for my birthday, complete with wine pairings for each course.  Kale chips and broccoli rabe crostini, butternut squash soup, tofu conchas, roasted duck with potatoes and greens, a salad and cheese course, molten chocolate lava cake with cinnamon... it was delicious, fun and the best way to celebrate 30.

The following weekend I was in for another treat... this time in New Mexico.  I was picked up at the Albuquerque airport by a handsome man in a black car, driven to northern NM for a weekend of hiking, cooking, gourmet eating and red wine drinking, and, of course, cribbage playing.  He even made me (yes, made from stratch!) croissants!

Dan's famous croissants

Hiking in Dixon

A surprise find along the trail

A sleepy Holden on the couch